What Is This Parking Brake Cable Part Called?

[sjaroslo]

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So, this is part of the Wilwood Parking Brake cable kit, which I believe is just a re-packaged Lokar kit. I spent some quality time on the garage floor tonight and think that I may have a plan to marry the stock Camaro front parking brake cable to the Wilwood rear parking brake cables, in harmony with the Morrison sub-frame, but here's my issue--the Camaro front cable ends with a threaded stud that is 5/16" coarse thread; this junction block is threaded for 5/16" fine thread....

So ideally I would like to be able to buy another one, from McMaster-Carr or someone like that, that is threaded 5/16" coarse, but in order to effectively search for solutions, I need to know what to call the danged thing!

My other thought would be to drill out the threaded bore to make it smooth and slightly larger than the 5/16 stud, and just use 5/16" coarse nuts on either side of it, but that wouldn't be my first choice. Any other thoughts? Thanks!

[dontlifttoshift]

Just run a coarse tap in through the brass block. Sounds hokey but it does work.

But here's the thing, the block doesn't allow the pulling force to balance between the two cables. So one side will work and the other side will work not so good.

[another69]

I ended up modifying the Wilwood parking brake kit for more leverage and using 2 of those blocks (in series?) in order to get the parking brake to work adequately.

[sjaroslo]

Well, you guys are depressing me now :) .... Another69, were you able to source the 2nd block directly from Wilwood or Lokar or some other source, or did you just buy a second kit? I thought it would be easier to modify everything to fit the Camaro front cable (which clips nicely in to the floor, has a rubber/foam gasket to seal out the elements, and seats nicely into the foot pedal), than to modify the Lokar front cable (which I bought just in case), which would need an "L" bracket fabbed up and would need a different grommet to seal up against the firewall..... Now I'm just trying to figure out if I want to try to re-tap the thing as Donny suggested or just drill it out smooth....

[dontlifttoshift]

Try tapping it first and see if it works. I did a 69 and used the stock front cable and it functions adequately. But that was with aftermarket spot calipers that allowed induvidual adjustment on each side.

What I was trying to say before (from my phone) is that the pullling force from the front cable doesn't equalize through both cables to the brakes. In other words, if both cables and housings were exactly the same length and the brakes are adjusted exactly the same it would work great......it's a highly unlikely situation. With drum brakes it is really not an issue due to the contact patch of the shoes and the leverage offered by an 11" drum. With internal drums inside a rotor or a spot caliper type setup it becomes far more critical.

I am not sure how a second block would work unless you were to use it to form a loop with both cables and use the stock horseshoe.

Despite their hokey website, www.controlcables.com can build you a stock type rear cable with the correct mounts and connections for the rear and then you can utilize the factory horseshoe and connect to you factory cable up front. You're pretty meticulous and I think that would be the best way for you if it is really important to you that the park brake functions.

[GeoffP]

I just drilled it out and put a nut on the back side of it. Works great!

[another69]

I added a 2nd block because the cables pull out of the setscrews easier than you think. When you actually try the setup you will see what I mean. I adjusted the parking brake shoes until they barely dragged but had to put lots of pressure on the stock parking brake pedal to keep the car from rolling when parked. I used Lokar front and rear cables. I got really sick of the car rolling or the cables snapping out of the setscrews. Even on a small incline the cables would snap before the car would stop. I ended up buying a 2nd set of cables from Lokar (while gritting my teeth) and used the 2nd block. I also made small extension brackets on the parking brakes to increase leverage. This helped out enough that they now actually work. Dontlifttoshift has a point that I didn't consider about the balance issue that I'm sure contributed as well to my brakes not working, but they were new at the time and adjusted equally.

[sjaroslo]

I think that I'm going to drill it out smooth rather than re-tap it. It occurred to me that if it is tapped, I would have to remove the cables from it any time I wanted to re-tension it (because you would have to spin it up the threaded stud) whereas just putting nuts on either side would allow it to slide up without having to undo anything. Also, although I couldn't find that specific block anywhere, I believe that adding extra "cable stops" on the wire might help to distribute the load better and help avoid the cable stripping free, as has been noted here....

[Z06vet]

I'm not sure this is the best way, but I used the stock front cable with the threaded rod on the end. I also used the "cup" or- the cable sling that goes on that rod. I then just looped both cables coming from the parking brakes & tied them together with that block pictured above. I positioned it as far away from the factory cable hook that goes into the subframe so that it didnt impede the cable from sliding in the hook. It's worked fine for me over the last 2 years. I havent seen the rest of your setup- mine was a lokar parking brake cable kit- so not sure if yours is capable of being set up like this.

[dontlifttoshift]

Z06 has the right idea.

[nicks67camaro]

That is exactly what I did for my 67. I'm using the Kore3 C5 rear parking brake set up. Works great.


Just run a coarse tap in through the brass block. Sounds hokey but it does work.

But here's the thing, the block doesn't allow the pulling force to balance between the two cables. So one side will work and the other side will work not so good.

[gearheads78]

When I built my Cutlass I used an extra rear cable from Lokar as my front cable with the stock pedal. It worked perfect.

[Schwartz Performance]

If you're still looking for the name of the part, it's a "connector block" according to Summit - had to special order a couple thru Summit a week or two ago, actually!

Part number S-8070, $15 each. Drill it out and put a nut on the end sounds like a cheap solution ;)

[sjaroslo]

Wow, some great information rolling in, thanks everyone! I am going to crap my pants if that part is available through Summit! Now I need to search the p/n....

What is probably not obvious to everyone in this thread is that I have a Morrison sub-frame--so no provisions to pass the front cable through the frame and no provision for the "J" hook, etc, although that probably wouldn't be too hard. Also, and don't get me wrong, I really like this about the Morrison product, the headers and exhaust tuck up pretty tightly to the floor, but as a result, they make it difficult for something to run across the bottom of the car.... I'm having to route the passenger side cable up through the driveshaft hump and am hoping like heck there is enough clearance (I don't currently have a driveshaft in order to check).

[sjaroslo]

Thank you, Schwartz Performance!

I love this forum. :)

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